If you feel nostalgic for the days when Gerard Way appeared on Tiger Beat, when AIM away messages with melodramatic lyrics described your mood, and when Hot Topic still had the red logo, there’s the perfect music festival for you. One that beats any Warped Tour lineup. When the When We Were Young festival poster was shared on Twitter, it felt too good to be true; some even thought it was a practical joke, or a Fyre Festival 2.0. But thankfully, it’s real!
On Saturday, October 22, 2022 in Las Vegas, you can see My Chemical Romance, Paramore, The All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, AFI, Avril Lavigne, Jimmy Eat World, Bright Eyes, Hawthorne Heights, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and other 2000s (and current day) emo favorites.
Besides My Chemical Romance blessing us with another opportunity to see them after postponing its reunion tour twice, Paramore gets to unveil the new music its been working on for the follow-up to its 2017 record, After Laughter.
But it’s not all nostalgic acts. Recent Fueled By Ramen signees Meet Me @ The Altar, who fit in perfectly with the Y2K-focused lineup, are performing. So are TikTokers who’ve jumped on the Myspace emo revival craze like Lil Huddy, Jxdn, and Nessa Barrett.
Other newer bands like Car Seat Headrest, The Linda Lindas, and PVRIS are also playing. In the words of Hannah Montana, you get the best of both worlds, with a heavy dose of nostalgia and the opportunity to see more recent, buzz-worthy acts.
Surprisingly, this festival is only a one-day event, so that means you have to decide which of your favorite bands from your teen years to see on the fest’s stages. The schedule hasn’t been announced yet, but as long as you can see your favorites play their hits, that’s all that matters, right?
Presale for tickets begins Friday, January 21 at 10 a.m. PST. The full lineup is listed below.
UPDATE, Friday, January 21: As expected, tickets for When We Were Young quickly sold out, so the festival is adding a second date: Sunday, October 23. It will feature the same lineup (yes, all those bands in a day…twice). Tickets for the second date are available now.
UPDATE, Monday, January 24: After tickets for the second date also quickly sold out, the festival added a third date: Saturday, October 29. There will be a presale for this third date on Monday, January 31 at 10 a.m. PST. The remaining tickets will be sold at 2 p.m. The lineup remains the same, with the exception of Wolf Alice, who'll be replaced by Alex G.